Guitar Heroines

When Patty Larkin went to study guitar at Berklee College of Music in the 1970s, she was the only female guitarist there — a situation that was both intimidating and a bit of a kick in the pants.

But the times they are a changin’. The school now boasts 56 female guitar students, as well as five guitar instructors who are women. When people ask Larkin why there are no great female guitar players, she answers simply, ‘‘There are.’’

Larkin is making sure the gospel is spread. Her latest project is called ‘‘La Guitara,’’ a CD/concert tour that celebrates the groundbreaking contributions women have made to the evolution of the guitar. The superb Vanguard CD compilation, released last year, features 14 female guitarists that cross a wide range of stylistic boundaries, from Wu Man’s atmospheric ‘‘Invocation’’ on the centuries-old pipa to an archival recording from the early 1930s of the seminal blues guitarist Memphis Minnie to the cutting-edge percussive groove of emerging talent Kaki King. The collection celebrates women guitarists who weren’t content to merely look for role models — they became them. ‘‘There are women guitarists today who are actively changing our preconceptions about gender and guitar heroes,’’ Larkin says. ‘‘This project is dedicated to these artists, past and present, waiting to be discovered, needing to be heard.’’

Friday night, Larkin and two of the recording’s other contributors, King and Sharon Isbin, will showcase some of the diverse styles currently being embraced by women guitarists. Each will perform a solo set, and the concert will be framed by pieces performed by the three together, some set, some improvised. Larkin, best known as a singer/songwriter/guitarist, will lead off with her own genre-bending work, often characterized by a fluid, imaginative blending of folk, celtic, blues, and funk, augmented by a variety of electronic wizardry. King’s style is even harder to describe, her quirky compositions a melding of traditional guitar styles with an innovative percussive technique. Isbin, one of the world’s premiere classical guitarists, will contribute a largely Spanish/Latin-based repertoire. ‘‘It’s wonderful Latin dance music and Flamenco-inspired music that people will immediately warm to,’’ Larkin says.

Isbin sees the ‘‘La Guitara’’ project as a way to expand the audience for classical music. For more than two decades, she has been breaking boundaries through extensive commissioning and crossover projects with the likes of Steve Vai, Paul Winter, and Stanley Jordan. ‘‘I was doing crossover back in the ’80s, when it was still considered a dirty word,’’ she laughs. ‘‘But I always found that experience a wonderful way to expand my own horizon and enjoy the openness and spontaneity of nonclassical players.’’

Larkin, who is also hoping to showcase one of Berklee’s talented female students at the concert, believes one of the project’s most valuable aspects is the sense of cross-pollination it encourages. ‘‘We are learning from each other and listening on a deeper level,’’ she says. ‘‘I get to play some jazz, some Beatles, read guitar music, which I haven’t done in a long time. It stretches me as a musician, and I’d like to inspire kids to do that as well.’’

Larkin hopes that, as ‘‘La Guitara’’ continues with touring and festival appearances, the project can ultimately expand into the classroom, with participants teaching more workshops and clinics. ‘‘You can teach history and math and music, all with the guitar,’’ Larkin says.

Larkin is also hoping to create more archival material. Documentary filmmaker John Baynard has been following the project with the idea of possibly making a film about the history of women guitarists. ‘‘There are all these different levels the project is operating on,’’ Larkin says. ‘‘If and when we do the next CD and tour, we’ll have different producers doing different genres by different players. I see this as kind of like handing off the baton. We’re passing the torch.’’